Distorted sound, bad motherboard?

[alexwakelin]

OK, I've been having some problems with my htpc which I originally thought was a bad sound card. I was getting distorted audio and have ruled out my receiver as the audio is perfect when using the dvd player. I purchased a new sound card and still have the same problem. I've ruled out the blu-ray drive, I installed it in my gaming rig and the audio is fine when played through my home theater system. I installed both sound cards in all available pci slots in my htpc and I still get distorted audio. Does this sound like a bad mobo? The computer functions perfectly otherwise.

My htpc specs are:
2.9ghz Athlon x2
ASUS M3A
2x1 gb Corsair DDR2 1066
Nvidia 9600gt

 

[TLS Guy]

OK, I've been having some problems with my htpc which I originally thought was a bad sound card. I was getting distorted audio and have ruled out my receiver as the audio is perfect when using the dvd player. I purchased a new sound card and still have the same problem. I've ruled out the blu-ray drive, I installed it in my gaming rig and the audio is fine when played through my home theater system. I installed both sound cards in all available pci slots in my htpc and I still get distorted audio. Does this sound like a bad mobo? The computer functions perfectly otherwise.

My htpc specs are:
2.9ghz Athlon x2
ASUS M3A
2x1 gb Corsair DDR2 1066
Nvidia 9600gt

Check the supply voltages to the sound card. I would suspect a power supply problem, and doubt a mother board problem would act this way.

 

[alexwakelin]

I doubt it's a power supply problem, I tried a spare psu and still have the problem. I'm running an Antec 450 watt truepower, never heard of one failing.

Also, I only get distortion in the midbass, highs come through fine.

 

[Nemo128]

Please define distortion.

 

[alexwakelin]

Please define distortion.

Kinda hard to describe...it's really noticeable in the 20th century fox intro, instead of the hearing the drums clearly I hear a warbly buzzing sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTgRm6Qgscc

I don't have any important data on that computer, just the OS and Power DVD, I might try a reformat this weekend. If that doesn't work I might just order a new mobo. I'm looking at these two:

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128376

ASUS M4A78 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131381

 

[adwilk]

Once upon a time I had my AC3 decoder accidentally set on 32bit instead of 16bit, dont know how it happened but I had some pretty serious distortion issues. Once I reset the setting, It was all good again...

I could access the decoder through WMP Classic... I'm sure there are other ways, but it worked for me.. perhaps worth a shot.. who knows?

 

[alexwakelin]

I don't know what the problem was, but no amount of checking settings or uninstalling drivers would fix it. Problem solved with a fresh install of Windows 7

 

[adwilk]

I don't know what the problem was, but no amount of checking settings or uninstalling drivers would fix it. Problem solved with a fresh install of Windows 7

Thats really kind of odd. Glad it works now, though...

 

[TLS Guy]

I don't know what the problem was, but no amount of checking settings or uninstalling drivers would fix it. Problem solved with a fresh install of Windows 7

Very interesting. I guess you are stuck with Vista or Windows for HT. However because of these types of problems pro audio stays with xp. Vista and windows 7 have such draconian DRM. they mess with drivers. The RME unit I use uses ASIO drivers, these are always mucked up by versions later than xp. So I will stay with xp.

 

[strube]

Very interesting. I guess you are stuck with Vista or Windows for HT. However because of these types of problems pro audio stays with xp. Vista and windows 7 have such draconian DRM. they mess with drivers. The RME unit I use uses ASIO drivers, these are always mucked up by versions later than xp. So I will stay with xp.

I am doing the same, for the same reasons, my friend. They completely screwed up the audio stack in Vista and later - I really don't understand what Micro$oft was thinking. My friend has some pro gear from M-Audio and it got all sorts of hosed when he tried to run with it in Vista. Even Creative Labs SoundBlaster cards had to have an emulation system to make their cards work properly in Vista.

 

[adwilk]

Very interesting. I guess you are stuck with Vista or Windows for HT. However because of these types of problems pro audio stays with xp. Vista and windows 7 have such draconian DRM. they mess with drivers. The RME unit I use uses ASIO drivers, these are always mucked up by versions later than xp. So I will stay with xp.

I am doing the same, for the same reasons, my friend. They completely screwed up the audio stack in Vista and later - I really don't understand what Micro$oft was thinking. My friend has some pro gear from M-Audio and it got all sorts of hosed when he tried to run with it in Vista. Even Creative Labs SoundBlaster cards had to have an emulation system to make their cards work properly in Vista.

I'm about 37% sure that a good bit of the audio junk in Vista can be altered/disabled via tweaks deep in the OS. I remember a really good read a couple months ago addressing some of these issues/changes. It was mainly regarding using a Vista machine as a "Hi-Fi" source component. I'll see if I can track it down. It was incredibly over my head.

 

[strube]

I'm about 37% sure that a good bit of the audio junk in Vista can be altered/disabled via tweaks deep in the OS. I remember a really good read a couple months ago addressing some of these issues/changes. It was mainly regarding using a Vista machine as a "Hi-Fi" source component. I'll see if I can track it down. It was incredibly over my head.

I would certainly be interested to see that. If it is for real, It may help me survive the Windows 7 apocalypse come October.

 

[adwilk]

I would certainly be interested to see that. If it is for real, It may help me survive the Windows 7 apocalypse come October.

I'm diggin... It was really interesting. It was mostly about not letting the computer do any processing that wasnt absolutely necessary. Apparently audio on a windows platform is cycled with other functions or some shat. I'll do my best to find it and let the nerds, I mean, geeks, I mean you guys figure it out.

 

[alexwakelin]

I was actually running xp pro on my htpc until this problem popped up. Windows 7 has been nothing short of amazing for my gaming rig so I thought I would give it a shot for the htpc. I just finished The Watchmen...everything looks and sounds great so far.